


Falling into your ocean eyes

by kkay_nsfw



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romellura, Slow Burn (a little), Summer Love, Summer Vacation, adashi, allura and lance used to date but now they're bffs, hotel entretainer lance, klance, vague mentions of allurance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:22:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25905034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkay_nsfw/pseuds/kkay_nsfw
Summary: Lance works at the hotel Matt and Pidge always stay at during vacation. One summer, Keith, Shiro and Adam join them and get to meet the literal ray of shunshine Lance is.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is my first time publishing any work on AO3 so I hope you like this little idea and decided to join me in its evolution.

Turns out Matt and Pidge could be really convincing when they worked together. That would be amazing in most scenarios, but Keith was pissed. If he hated something more than packing for a vacation, that was spending said vacation near the beach. It’s not that he _hated_ the beach, the ocean was pretty and sunsets near the coast were beutiful, but he couldn’t stand the sand stucking to every inch of his skin, the suffocating heat, the seaweed tangling around his ankles, the sunburnts… The cons simply outnumbered the pros, but apparently his friends didn’t care about that.

“Are you done? Adam’s waiting” said Shiro while poking his head in Keith’s bedroom. Oh yes, the biggest traitor, his brother.

Keith wouldn’t have to spend the next two weeks in that sandy hell if it wasn’t for Shiro. When Matt and Pidge came up with the idea, they convinced Shiro and his fiancé to join them, and of course Shiro couldn’t even think of leaving his little brother behind. He bought Keith’s plane ticket without telling him and then bullied him into feeling guilty for wasting money in case he didn’t travel with the rest of them. Classic Shiro style, Keith couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that coming.

“Almost” answered Keith briefly while throwing some t-shirts from his closet directly onto the open suitcase placed on his bed.

“That’s what you said five minutes ago”

“Well, now it’s true”

Shiro sighed and walked into the room, starting to fold Keith’s clothes so they would fit properly inside his luggage. “Listen, I know you don’t like this plan and even if I teased you about it before… just know you can stay here and—“

“Takashi…” Keith turned around to look at his older brother. “Even if I don’t like it, I know it will be fun once we are there. Plans are always fun with you, guys” He really tried to keep a neutral expression but that was nearly imposible with Shiro giving him that fond look. “Don’t give me that look, you know I will still complain during the whole flight” he added before going back to look through his closet.

One of the main reasons Keith was willing to sacrifice staying on his own in LA for two weeks in Cuba, was Shiro. That man hadn’t only done everything for Keith since they met at the volunteering program in the orphanage Keith was living at back then, he also needed that vacation. Some years ago, Shiro had a motorbike accident that cost him his right arm. He was quick to learn how to do pretty much everything with the proesthetic he got, but since the accident, he didn’t like being too exposed or showing his body. Shiro didn’t like being the center of attention, he didn’t like being seen as weak or as someone worth of pity. Keith could barely remember the last time they went together to the beach for that exact reason.

Of course Adam played a huge role in Shiro getting his confidence back, but it was still an ongoing process. They would be staying somewhere no one really knew them, they would go to beaches full of strangers, away from everyone Shiro knew whose judgdamental looks could matter to him. Shiro was so excited about going somewhere tropical with his fiancé, brother and friends, that he was being able to forget about those insecurities while planning every little detail about the trip. Plus, seeing Shiro smile was worth every sunburnt and every accidental sip of salty water.

After arguing multiple times about what was the proper way of folding certains items of clothing and about arranging things differently so they fit inside the suitcase, Keith and Shiro were ready to leave their apartment. They took their luggage and went outside the building, where Adam´s car was parked and waiting for them. Adam was behind the steering wheel, so obviously Shiro got in the passenger’s seat and greeted his partner with a brief peck on the lips. Keith got their stuff in the trunk before joining the Holt siblings in the backseat. It was only a thirty-minute ride to the airport, but still Keith was glad he could seat near the window rather than squeezed in the middle seat.

They had to catch their flight at 5 am, so no one was really in the mood for small talk during the ride considering how early it was. They kept the radio at a low volumen mostly as background noise and if Keith had to bet on it, he would say that both Matt and Pidge took a little nap considering with how silent they were. After eating something in one of the coffee shops inside the airport and some more time waiting on what had to be the most uncomfotable chairs on Earth, they finally got inside the plane. Keith, Matt and Pidge were sitting together, sleeping on each other’s shoulders during the flight. Shiro, who was sitting a couple of rows in front of them with Adam, made sure to take pictures of that scene.

“You seem really excited about this. I’m glad” said Adam with a soft smile as he covered both his and Shiro´s legs with a thin blanket.

“How couldn’t I? Sam and Colleen talked some real wonders about that place, I can’t wait to see it with my own eyes” The truth was, if it wasn’t for Matt and Pidge’s parents, they would be spending their vacation somewhere else. The Holt family has been visiting Cuba every summer almost since Sam and Colleen got married, taking their kids with them too as son as they could. They always stayed at the same hotel, one situated in Varadero, around 2 hours away from La Habana. Colleen said it was a family ran bussiness and that the people working them were so kind they never hesitated about coming back. For what Pidge and Matt told them, they were friends with the owner’s children, who were around their same age.

“Yeah… it was impossible not wanting to visit Varadero after all the amazing things they told us” said Adam before his eyes landed on Shiro’s little tray and the small book placed there. “Are you still trying to learn some Spanish?” he asked with a soft smile.

“Yes. I want to be able to at least greet those amazing people in their language” he admited shyly.

“Aren’t you a total angel?”

** ** ** ** ** **

It was around 1:45pm, local time, when the plane landed. Adam and Shiro seemed just fine while walking through the airport, heading to pick up their bags and suitcases, while the others were either grumpy or in pain due to crowding each other’s space while sleeping.

Those issues disappeared after they ate something in the airport before getting on the car that would take them to the hotel.

“Did you tell Lance we were coming?” asked Pidge to her brother.

“Not really. I can text him later if we can’t find him” answered Matt with a shrug.

Lance. That was the name Keith had been hearing non-stop whenever his friends told him stories about their vacation in Varadero. Truth be told, Keith was curious about the guy.

“That is your childhood friend, right Matt?” wondered Adam.

“Yeah. We are the same age so we became friends almost right after we met. He is really nice, you’d love him. Well, everyone there does, right Pidgey-Podge?”

“Well yeah…but maybe the fact you were crushing on him for the longest time made you a little biased” she pointed out with a smirk, earning a tired groan from her brother.

“Not that again…”

“Wait you had a crush on your friend? Why didn’t you mention it?” asked Keith. By the look Adam gave them, he was surprised by that information too. Probably Shiro would be as well, but currently he was too busy practicing his Spanish by talking with their driver.

“Because you’d tease me about it! Pidge has been doing it since she found out. Please don’t say anything about that in front of him” begged Matt.

“I can’t promise anything” answered Keith with a little smirk. He probably wouldn’t make any comments about it if the guy was around, he wanted to tease Matt, not embarass him to death.

The car dropped them at the hotel’s main entrance and while Adam and Matt took their stuff off the vehicle, Keith could admire their surroundings. The brick path leading to the bulding was a nice terracotta shade that matched the little pot flowers placed here and there. There were also tal palm trees and round bushes limiting two small gardens on either sides of the building, a light breeze moving their leaves andmaking the place look full of life. There must be some sort of water fountains somehwere in those gardens as the sound of water in movement was part of the background noise along with the indisctinctive talk of people coming in and out the hotel.

When Keith was about to grab his suitcase and head inside, Shiro’s voice stopped him: “Guys! I asked and he is taking a picture of us” he said happily and motioned for them to gather up in front of the stairs that lead inside the building. The driver held Shiro’s phone and waited for them to be in place before taking a couple pictures.

“Say cheese!” they heard someone said behind them, right before Keith could feel a hand on his shoulder. Did someone just photo-bombed their first vacation memory? When he turned his face around to meet the intruder a pair of deep blue eyes meet his and that was enough to have Keith frozen in place. He swore the stranger offered him a bright toothy smile.

“Lance?!” shouted Pidge before moving towards the boy and hugged him. “Hi! It’s so nice to see you” she said happily before stepping back to look at him porperly. “We didn’t know if you’d be here already”

“I arrived yesterday. Right on time for the Holt’s vacation, am I right?” said Lance with a fond smile before ruffling Pidge’s hair. “Hey, new haircut! Looks awesome”

“Hey, man” said Matt as he aproached his old friend, grabbing Lance’s hand and pulling him into another hug.

“Talking about haircuts! Man, you wear now a ponytail?” Lance’s jaw dropped as he looked at Matt. “Damn, dude. That just proves how long it has been since the last time you were here, huh?” How could this guy smile all the time? Didn’t his cheeks hurt? “Like what, two years?”

“Yeah” Matt nodded, Lance’s smile apparently contagious since it had Matt and his sister grinning like idiots. “How have you been?”

“Good good, everything is just like always. Oh! I have some new gossips” he looked between the Holt siblings and smirked. “I think Allura is after Romelle but you haven’t heard this from me”

“No way!” shouted Pidge.

“I know! Crazy, right?” after a quick glance around, the Cuban must have noticed how out of place the other three people felt. “We can bet on this later, now I have new people to meet” said Lance while giving the others a shympathetic smile. He approached Keith first since he was the closest to him. “The name’s Lance” he introduced himself and reached a hand to shake Keith’s.

“Keith” That came out a little colder than he intended, but he was stuck trying to process something as he looked at the boy in front of him. Okay so Matt hadn’t only failed at mentioning he used to have a crush on this guy, but also, it had never been addressed how fucking _hot_ Lance was. He wasn’t only Disney prince kind of handsome but also surfing champion kind of hot. How was that fair to anyone?! Was this guy aware of how much potential he had?

“Uhm…nice to meet you” mumbled Lance while continuing to shake Keith’s hand awkwardly, like he had been doing while Keith freaked out internally about Lance’s good looks.

“I’m Adam” said Shiro’s fiancé, taking a step forward. “Sam and Colleen said wonderfulthings about this place. We are really excited to meet your family as well” Lance looked so relieved for a more normal interaction that his eyes pretty much lit up. He shook Adam’s hand and that cheerful smile returned to his face.

“My pleassure. I’m sure they’d love to sit down for some coffee with you. As my mom says, Colleen friends are her friends too” offered Lance with a smile. When he turned to face Shiro, Keith felt as if time froze.

Lance reached out his hand, kind words already forming on his tongue, just like for the others introductions. The issue came when Shiro reached out in response with his proesthetic arm. It was something that still happened sometimes, based on muscle memory. But Shiro was so excited about their trip that he didn’t notice until everyone else, besides Lance, sucked in a breath. It wasn’t a big deal, of course they have told that to Keith’s brother whenever that incident happended, but Shiro was still working on it, he still didn’t like that new people noticed his proesthetic arm right away.

But Lance? Oh, he couldn’t care less. While his fingertips touched the slightly cold metal of the proesthetic, he didn’t even look down. Instead, those beautiful eyes were focusing on Shiro’s face as he waited for him to introduce himself. “Nice to meet you…”

“Shiro” he answered after the initial shock, shaking Lance’s hand back.

“Oh, Japanese?” asked Lance, his smile never flaterring. That little question made Shiro visibly less tense. How was Lance so good at reading people?

“Yes. That comes from my last name, actually. Shirogane” he explained. “My name’s Takashi”

“That’s a cool way to give you a nickname! What do you prefer to be called?”

“Oh, just Shiro is fine”

A smirk grew on Lance’s face as he let go of the other’s hand and Keith could see Pidge already rolling her eyes. “Nice to meet you then, Just-Shiro-Is-Fine” he chuckled. He took a step back so he was in front of the whole group. “Well guys, I’m sure Matt and Katie know the way to the reception just as good as I do so if you excuse me I’m going for a swim” he started walking away. “See you around!” added Lance while waving at them.

“You were right, Matt” commented Adam “. Lance is really nice”

“I like the guy” added Shiro, smiling softly.

“I think Keith didn’t like him as much” pointed out Pidge, hitting Keith’s arm playfully.

“What?” he frowned.

“Dude, if glares could kill the guy would be underground” added Matt. “I’d never seen Lance feeling awkward around strangers until you looked daggers at him”

Keith’s frown only deepened. He didn’t think he was being rude or cool with Lance. Only a little surprised with his appareance but that’s all.

“Were you gay panicking?” Adam’s voice caught him out of guard.

“What?! No!”

Everyone looked at each other and nodded. “You were” they concluded simultaneously.

“Whatever” Keith grabbed his suitcase and started walking into the hotel while the others chuckled behind him.

Such a great start for their trip.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith feels gayer every second he spends staring at Lance and the group get to meet Allura!

The group walked into the hotel’s reception, were a kind man with a huge orange mustache checked their booking and gave them the keys to their rooms. Shiro and Adam were obviously sharing a room, just like Matt and Pidge. At first, they planned to get Keith a suppletory bed so he could share a room with his friends, but he insisted against it; a room for himself was one of his conditions to join the rest on vacation.

Keith’s room was booked on a different day, so it wasn’t on the same floor as Shiro’s or Matt’s. He didn’t care, really; after all they would be spending together every single second of that trip. Maybe the lonely walks down the corridor were enough of a break for Keith to relax a little.

The receptionist was a middle-aged ginger man and the excitement radiating from his expressive eyes while explaining the group the different installations the hotel had, was contagious. He seemed to love talking to tourist about the charm of the island, so the job fit him like a glove. Coran, as the little plate on his chest read, gave them a few pamphlets about the activities they organized on special nights, the different tours they could take part in and the restaurant’s schedule. It was a little overwhelming, but they knew it wasn’t the poor man’s intention. The group walked away from his desk and closer to the elevator, so they didn’t have a line forming behind them.

“Alright, what’s the plan now?” asked Keith while eyeing the pamphlets Coran gave him.

“We should probably check our rooms and unpack our stuff” suggested Shiro. “There’s such a nice weather today, maybe we should hang out near the pool when we are done”

“Sounds like a plan to me” pointed Adam as he took one of Shiro’s hands in his. “We’ll meet at the pool and then we’ll decided what else we should do today”

They all nodded in agreement and got inside the elevator with a young couple and their kids. Keith was the last one leaving the elevator since his room was on the last floor. When he walked in, his jaw dropped at the beautiful view of the coast he had through the gigantic window that covered one of the room’s walls. Right next to the room’s entrance, there was a door that lead to the bathroom. Keith peaked inside and was pleasantly surprised when he found that the shower had a couple of hydromassage options.

Checking the rest of the doors, that only lead to built-in wardrobes, he finally walked towards the bed and sat down to check if it was comfortable. After jumping on it a couple of times, the idea of taking a nap was slightly more tempting than going into the pool to avoid the humid heat of Cuba.

The bed, queen sized, was placed in the middle of the room with the frame against one of the walls. The bed covers, in gold and beige tones, complimented nicely the dark color of the walls and curtains and the rest of the furniture followed a similar color palette. With all of that, the room seemed fancy but not extremely luxurious, which Keith appreciated as it didn’t make him feel out of place. After appreciating his surroundings and the view he had from his room, Keith started unpacking his clothes and hygiene products before finding a place for all of them.

Once everything was neat and organized, Keith changed into a pair of red swimming trunks and bathed himself in sunblock to avoid looking like a crab for the rest of the trip in case he spent too long under direct sunlight. Once he was done, he grabbed his phone, a beach towel, sunglasses and the keycard to his room before heading to the pool area.

Even if the hotel was huge, with high walls and ceilings and the multiple floors, it didn’t prepare Keith for how big the outside installations were. There were three pools, each one of different depth, and an insane extension of grass with some umbrellas and palm trees providing shadow to the clients peacefully lying down on their towels or chairs. There was also music playing from a speaker placed somewhere Keith hadn’t found yet, but it was hard to listen to whatever song was playing with the sound of children laughing and playing in the water or chasing each other running on the grass, avoiding other people and their towels as if it was part of the game. Just like the outside of the hotel, the pool area was also full of life and made the whole place seem charming.

Now he understood better why Sam and Colleen insisted on coming back every year; it was for sure a magic place.

Keith glanced around trying to find his brother or any other familiar face, but they didn’t seem to be around. It wasn’t a surprise that they were still probably busy settling in, so Keith decided to start wandering around in order to find a nice place to sit down, preferably under one of those big umbrellas. Most of them were occupied by families so Keith continued walking until he found and empty one. Or so he thought.

After getting closer he noticed a blue string bag placed under the shade of the umbrella and right next to it there was Lance, sunbathing on one of those beach lounge chairs while his caramel skin sparkled under the sun. The tan boy was wearing a pair of navy-blue swimming trunks and his arms were folded behind his head, using them as a pillow.

How could Keith not stop everything he was doing or thinking to appreciate the beauty of the man lying down in front of him? His folded arms only drew more attention to his strong arms and broad shoulders. Even if Lance wasn’t too muscular, he was in an incredibly good shape. Keith assumed it made sense considering Pidge mentioned once or twice how her friend loved water sports and being active. Still, that didn’t make the sight less impressive.

Perhaps Keith stared at him for longer than he intended to, because after his eyes travelled down no pay some attention to Lance’s tiny waist, Keith noticed Lance was looking at him. His sunglasses were now resting on top of his head as he rested his weight on both forearms placed on his sides.

“Can I help you?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow and Keith wished the ground could just swallow him. Why was he being so awkward in front of this babe?

_Get it together, Keith._

“Oh. I… I was just looking for the others, but I guess they aren’t here yet”

“Haven’t seen them” Lance sat up and leaned his weight onto the palm of his hand, placed behind him. “Are you guys planning to spend some time at the pool?”

“Yeah” Keith nodded and looked around. “If I can find a spot to settle down” he shrugged, smiling a little.

“Well there’s enough room for all of us here” Lance got up and moved his chair away so it was under the umbrella. “We can place some towels down and bring a couple more chairs”

“We don’t want to bothe—”

Lance shut him up by waving a hand in front of Keith’s face. “Bababap. Nonsense. I wanted to spend time with you guys anyway. Plus, I’m pretty sure Katie would actually want to bother me” he chuckled, and Keith joined him. “So! Let’s go get those extra chairs, huh?”

And so they did. By the time they were done placing everything down, Matt and Pidge joined them. The younger girl immediately claimed the chair under the shade of the umbrella and Keith sat down on the grass right next to her. Meanwhile, Matt and Lance sat down on a towel and started talking about Lance’s different shifts at the hotel.

He learnt very quickly that Lance was a loud person. Even if he wasn’t talking, he laughed loudly with his whole body. And Keith knew for a fact Matt wasn’t even being funny at the moment. So perhaps Lance was always this smiley and cheerful. Keith didn’t mind at all; in fact, he was glad Lance was that way because his smile was too beautiful not to share with the world.

“You’re gonna burn a hole through his head if you keep staring” said a quiet voice next to Keith.

He frowned at Pidge, who was eyeing the book placed over her crossed legs. “What?” he asked quietly.

“Lance. You’ve been drooling after him since we settled down” she said without looking up from her book. “Please don’t let him know you have the hots for him, his ego is big enough already” Some heat crawled to Keith’s cheeks as he quickly made sure the other two boys were still talking and didn’t catch what Pidge just said.

“I don’t—”

A loud whistle, probably the loudest he had ever heard, interrupted Keith’s complaint. Lance was, of course, the one causing it. Keith looked at him in time to see the tan boy taking his thumb and index finger out od his mouth only to wave at someone in the distance. Keith followed the direction of his stare and was met with a beautiful girl waving back excitedly.

She immediately walked towards them. She was only wearing a large white t-shirt with the word ‘lifeguard’ printed on its front, her silver hair was up in ponytail that went through the red cap resting on her head and a pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. Her skin was slightly darker than Lance’s and for what Keith could tell from the way she dressed and her big thighs, she probably had a beautiful hourglass figure. She looked effortlessly stunning, even Keith’s gay ass could agree on that.

“Oh my god, hi!” she said happily. Before Keith could notice it, Pidge was standing up and hugging the new girl. “I had no idea you arrived already” she said with a big smile and placed her shades on the visor of her cap. Once Pidge was done greeting her, it was Matt’s turn to do the same. “Woah look at you! You totally rock the longer hair”

Matt giggled and thanked her before sitting down next to Lance again. Her now uncovered blue eyes landed on Keith and before he could say anything, Lance took care of the situation.

“Allura, this is Keith. Katie and Matt’s friend” he offered. “And Keith, this is Allura. The prettiest girl in Varadero” Keith agreed with that statement, so he didn’t really had time to think about what Lance wanted to imply with it. At the same time, Keith found that name familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint where had he heard it before.

Allura rolled her eyes at Lance and shook Keith’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Keith”. Then she turned around to look at Lance, who was now comfortably lying down on his towel. “I was looking for you, actually”

“Me? Why? You missed me that bad?” asked Lance with a smirk.

“Not really. You’re just about to make my day” she answered while taking off her cap and t-shirt, revealing a burgundy bikini set that hugged her curves in all the right places.

Lance raised both eyebrows and tilted his head a little. “Okay you already had my attention before but go off I guess”. Allura’s response to the flirty comment was to toss the t-shirt to Lance’s face, who immediately started laughing.

“God how can you still be like this?” complained Pidge under her breath, earning a side hug from Allura as she sat down next to her on the chair, sideways, so both of them could fit.

“You have no right to complain this year” said Lance as he stood up. He and Allura looked at each other for a couple of seconds without saying a word and finally he put on the t-shirt. “Gross Dude?”

“Gross Dude” sighed Allura.

“Sure, I gotcha. How long ‘til your shift ends?” wondered Lance while putting on the cap and his own sunglasses. Was he allowed to just take the lifeguard spot like that? Keith thought he only worked as an entertainer.

Matt must have noticed how lost Keith looked and giggled. “He’s got the license, don’t worry” he whispered.

When Keith looked back at Lance, he was grabbing his string bag and putting on his flip-flops. “You owe me something” he commented while poking Allura’s forehead with his index finger. “What about treating me to dinner?”

“I was actually thinking about taking half of your first shift tomorrow. You know, since you’d be hungover” she replied with a smirk, causing Lance’s eyes to light up.

“Oh fuck yeah. I love you” he groaned and placed a kiss on top of Allura’s hair., which made her giggle.

“C’mon, get to work already” she pushed him towards the pool.

“See you later, guys!” he waved at the rest of them while walking backwards. As soon as he was far away, Keith could feel both Pidge and Matt’s eyes focusing all their attention on Allura.

“So how have thing—”

“Tell me, Keith, are you excited about your vacation?” she asked in a hurry, trying too hard to ignore Matt.

“Uhm… yeah I guess. This place seems really nice and everyone we’ve met so far have been kind to us. It sounds promising” he answered, glancing between the Holt siblings. “What is going on?” he mumbled.

“Allura…” tried Pidge again.

“And do you plan to go on any of our tours? We have the perfect one for every person. Hiking, scuba-diving, historic tours…”

“Allura!”

“Did they mention to you that you can get a discount at surfing classes if you hire our ‘beach and brunch’ pack that includes—”

“So Romelle, huh?”

This time it worked and Allura shut up while her cheeks got a pinkish tint. Her eyes widened as he looked at Pidge. “Lance told you, didn’t he?”

“First thing he did after we got here” chuckled Matt. Now Keith remembered why Allura’s name sounded familiar; he heard it Lance say it before. For the context he had been able to get, Allura was crushing on a girl that also worked at the hotel, since Pidge and Matt knew her.

“Wait, you aren’t dating Lance?” the words left Keith’s mouth before he could think twice about them. Pidge gave him a funny look while wiggling her eyebrows. Yeah okay, maybe the question came out way too eager. “I-I mean… you guys seemed really close so I just assumed you…”

Allura’s sweet laugh interrupted his lame stammering. “Oh no, not anymore”

“They broke up this January or so” added Pidge. Okay, so it wasn’t too recent. “After dating for… how long?”

“Pretty much a year” Allura nodded and then looked back at Keith. “We’re just really good friends now. Some people keep thinking we are still a couple”

Well. That makes Keith’s whole ‘instant-crush-situation’ on Lance a little less embarrassing. Only a little.

“They’re just as gross and cheesy as when they dated” pointed Pidge. “The only difference is that they don’t eat each other’s faces right in front of everyone”

Allura laughed and poked Pidge’s side with her elbow playfully. “Or at least that is what you think” she laughed. Yeah okay, Keith could totally see how she and Lance dated. They had a similar humor. “But yeah, don’t worry” she said to Keith before winking “. The coast is clear”.

_Am I really that fucking obvious?_

If Matt and Pidge noticed the wink, they at least have the decency not to comment on it.

Shiro and Adam joined the group not much later, so the discussion about Allura’s crush and whether or not she planned to make a move had to be left for later as Keith’s brother has a lot of questions about the different tours after reading the booklets.

After some talking, Adam and Shiro decided to go get a drink at the bar near the pool. Matt decided to go for a swim and Pidge returned to reading her book while Keith and Allura got to know each other a little. She told him she worked mostly as a lifeguard, but she also taught Zumba once a week at the hotel. Allura lived in Havana but stayed at the hotel during the summers she worked there so she didn’t have to waste time driving to Varadero back and forth.

On the other hand, Keith told her about how he worked at a tattoo studio back in LA and that he was trying to open his own. After that she asked if she could see his tattoos and Keith happily took off his t-shirt to show her the ones that the fabric covered, such as the big lion head with red details present on his right shoulder blade. 

Allura seemed as friendly as Lance, a smile constantly plastered on her face whenever she talked with someone. Keith decided he liked this girl, even if she kept giving him some looks he was unable to decipher. Those looks were accompanied with a smirk when Lance came back, t-shirt thrown over his shoulder as his swimwear stuck to his legs with the weight of water soaking them. Water droplets fell from his curly hair and painted epimer lines over his muscles as they slid down the boy’s torso. He looked straight out of a cologne commercial and the fact he was slightly out of breath didn’t help Keith look away.

“Where are the others?” he asked, sitting on one of the empty chairs, previously occupied by Shiro.

“The lovebirds went for a drink and Matt is swimming” answered Pidge, eyes focused on her book.

“Oh okay” he nodded and glanced at Allura. “Gross Dude was disappointed you weren’t coming back”

“Gross Dude can go fuck himself” spat Allura, who was now sitting next to Keith on the grass. He chuckled while Lance gasped.

“Allura! There’s kids present” he whined while gesturing at Pidge. She smacked his hands away while smiling softly.

“Fuck off”

Another gasp. “See what you’ve done?!” complained Lance before laughing out loud.

“Who is that gross dude you talk about?” wondered Keith, earning a sigh from the girl sitting next to him.

“There’s a guy, probably around forty, that keeps coming to talk to me while I’m working. He always starts asking me the most trivial stuff and then he gets all ‘oh you’re so hardworking, you deserve a night off, you can’t lose any of your beauty sleep blah blah blah’”

“Basically he flirts with her without being painfully obvious so she can’t tell him to fuck off or otherwise the dude could fill a complaint” added Lance, grabbing his towel to dry his hair. “We also think he came here with his wife; we still need to do more research about that”

“Woah… I’m sorry” said Keith, giving Allura a sympathetic smile. “You can always play the boyfriend card on him, sadly is one of the only things that work with this kind of people”

“Yeah…” Allura smirked a little. “Wanna be my fake boyfriend in front of Gross Dude?” Keith laughed and she joined him. Yeah, he definitely liked this girl.

“Excuse me?!” Lance placed a hand on his chest, looking deeply offended. “I’m the default fake boyfriend, what do you mean?”

Allura giggled and shrugged. “I know but… have you _seen_ Keith?”

Keith felt himself blushing. He knew this was all part of a joke to tease Lance but the fact Allura’s compliment caused Lance’s beautiful eyes to roam all over his now shirtless body…

“You just met him! He can’t be a good fake boyfriend” the fond smile on Lance’s face was now joking with them. For some reason Keith felt really comfortable being like that with Lance and Allura, as if they had been friends for a while.

After sharing an accomplice look with Allura, Keith stretched his arm behind her shoulders, and she pecked his lips too quick to even feel it. He wasn’t expecting that from her, but it was a nice touch to the whole façade, he had to admit.

Lance’s jaw _dropped_.

“See? He’d make an okay fake boyfriend” said Allura happily, leaning into Keith’s side even if his arm wasn’t around her anymore. Lance kept looking at them as if they had lost their mind “What, are you jealous?”

“You…” Lance snorted before shaking his head in amusement. “I don’t even know who I should be jealous about”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter took me longer than I expected but it's finally here! Thank you so much to all of you patient enough to give this fic a second chance after taking months to update.
> 
> I'd love to read your thoughts about where this is going. Even if it's just a keysmash, it'd make my day :D
> 
> You can follow me on twitter at kkay_nsfw to know when I'll be updating next or when I'm posting other works that are currently in the oven.
> 
> xoxo - Kay


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some pining boys for the soul <3  
> We're still learning new things about Keith and Lance in this AU while Allura reads both of them like an open book.

_(Lance’s POV)_

_Keith_.

The name of the man that had been on Lance’s mind since they just a few hours ago.

His looks were unfair. Angular features framed by dark bangs that only made his cheeks look higher and his jawline look sharper; pouty lips and almond-shaped eyes that looked dark and intriguing; eyes that made Lance get goosebumps whenever they were focused on him for a long period of time. 

There was barely a height difference between them, if anything, Lance thought he was taller. But making sure of that would imply getting closer to Keith and, in that case, Lance couldn’t promise his hands would behave. From their first meeting, Lance already knew Keith was on the stronger and defined-muscles side, but seeing him without a t-shirt on when he came back from covering Allura’s shift threw the tan boy for a loop.

Lance had always had a thing for tattoos, so that just got added to the list of ‘hot things about Keith’. Not to mention the pierced nipples that would have had Lance’s knees going weak if he hadn’t been sitting down. In brief, Lance immediately fell for the guy, which didn’t go unnoticed by Allura considering the knowing looks she kept giving Lance.

Talking about Allura…

“I can’t believe you kissed him” commented Lance while looking at his reflection in the full-length mirror in his hotel room. 

He and Allura, who was currently getting her makeup done in Lance’s bathroom, were getting ready for a friend’s birthday party. Lance chose a pair of black skinny jeans and a button-down shirt with light orange vertical stripes. He undid the first two buttons, so it looked more casual, and tucked the shirt into his jeans.

"I was trying to prove a point" said Allura from the bathroom.

"Which was…"

"You’d be shocked" she giggled and peaked her head into the bedroom. "He's totally your type"

"Yeah I noticed, thank you very much" Lance ran a hand through his hair, messing his curls a little so they weren't too stiff. "He's like all the things I like in a guy put together" he sighed “. A present send from above”

Allura leaned onto the doorframe, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Lance, a smirk on her face. "He also has a tongue piercing, by the way. Did you notice?" 

"Oh, fuck me" groaned Lance and turned to look at his friend "How am I supposed to think about anything else now?"

Allura shrugged and giggled. "Can I tell you something else or are you going to melt into a puddle?"

Lance sat on the edge of his bed and raised his eyebrows. "Shoot"

"He was totally checking you out" she said before disappearing back into the bathroom.

"When?!" he jumped back to his feet and followed her, standing behind her while she leaned towards the bathroom mirror to blend the purple eyeshadow on her lids. 

"What do you mean _when_?" she giggled. "All the time. But especially when you came back from the pool"

Did Keith really find him attractive too? Lance decided he needed to pay more attention to that.

"Are you sure you're not reading too much into this?" Lance wasn't used to subtle interactions. Yeah, he flirted all the time, but he made it painfully obvious. Even if he was good at reading people, knowing if someone was uncomfortable with just a glance, Allura had always been better at reading people's intentions.

"Don't trust my instinct if you don't want to" she shrugged.

"What if he's straight?"

Allura placed down her blending brush and turned around, resting her lower back against the sink as she looked at Lance. "When have you seen a straight dude rocking a mullet?"

"That's a good point"

"A really good point" Allura smiled. "How does it look?" she asked while closing her eyes for a second so Lance could see the eyeshadow look she had been working on.

"I'm loving the color. Are you gonna add winged eyeliner?"

"I was thinking about lashes. Should I do both?"

"Hell yeah" Lance smiled and did a little turn in front of her to show his outfit. "Do you approve?"

"Yep" she nodded. "I'd add a golden chain"

Lance left the bathroom so he could find some accessories to go with his outfit. While he was still looking through one of his drawers, Allura left the bathroom and sat on his bed while looking at her phone.

"Oh by the way, I got his Instagram handle if you're interested"

Lance left everything he was doing to sat down next to her and peak at her phone. On the screen there was the profile of the tattoo studio Keith worked at, with photos and some videos of the different designs he and his coworkers produced.

They scrolled down and managed to find some of Keith's original work, his own account tagged in the photos. Lance took Allura's phone and visited the profile, which was a professional account in which he only posted his work and some sketches. The boy was really talented, no one could question it.

Allura started following him right away and while she finished getting ready, Lance scrolled through Keith's profile. He found a picture of Keith and his coworkers hugging each other and smiling brightly at the camera. 'We're back from Christmas's break!' read the caption. In that exact moment, Lance decided he really liked Keith's smile. Perhaps he should try something to see it live.

"Are you ready or do you need more time to drool all over my phone?" teased Allura from where she stood in front of Lance.

"I'm ready" he said shaking his head in amusement. He got up from the bed and grabbed his phone and wallet before walking out of the bedroom with Allura. They were about to leave the hall when Lance stopped walking and looked in the direction of the restaurant and dining area. "Shouldn't we say goodbye?"

Allura smirked at him. "Do you want to say goodbye, or do you want to see Keith?" she teased.

"I don't know what I can't want both" he giggled ". I also want him to see me dressed with some effort put into it" Together they walked into the dining room, greeting some of the guests on their way there. 

They spotted Katie, Matt and the rest sitting on a table near the buffet area but before they could start walking towards them, a voice stopped them:

"Oh woah, look at you two ready to enjoy your night off" a chuckle followed that sweet voice, immediately causing Allura to tense up next to Lance.

They turned around to see Romelle smiling at them. The way Allura held onto Lance's arm as if her life depended on it didn't go unnoticed by the tan boy.

"Yeah" he chuckled. "We're going to a birthday party"

"Oh that sounds fun! Loving the outfit, by the way" she added in Allura's direction.

"T-Thank you" stammered Allura. The truth was her outfit was stunning. Dark purple crop top tied in at her back and white high waisted jeans that matched the silver strands of hair cascading over her shoulders and back. She was radiant.

"What about the makeup, though?" asked Lance with a smirk. "I helped choosing the colors" he said proudly.

Romelle took a step closer so she could take a better look. Lance had to hold back chuckled when he noticed how Allura started blushing. "It looks awesome! You two make a great team helping each other to get ready"

"We could help you sometime if you need to" offered Lance, his lips meeting in a tight line when Allura's hold got even tighter, nails digging into his skin as a way to beg him to shut up.

"Sure, I'd love that" Romelle nodded with a smile. "Well, I don't want to keep you guys here. Enjoy your night" she gently squeezed Allura's shoulder before walking away. Once they were alone again, Lance let out the laughter he had been holding back.

Lance placed the back of his hand on Allura's forehead. "Hmn… Nope, you're fine. With how red you look I thought you were running a fever"

Allura hit his arm and frowned. "Shut up"

"It's adorable how badly you gay-panic whenever she's near. When she took a step closer I thought you'd faint" laughed Lance. 

" _I_ thought I'd faint" she pouted. "Can we say goodbye and leave already? I need a drink"

"Sure thing, princess"

They finally arrived at the table their friends were at. "Enjoy your dinner" said Lance smiling, ruffling Katie's hair a little when he got to her side.

"Thank you" answered Shiro happily.

"Are you going somewhere?" asked Matt after noticing the way Lance and Allura were dressed. 

"We are heading to a party" answered her. "Remember Rolo?" Allura earned a nod from Matt and Katie. "It's his birthday, he invited us over to his place"

Matt raised both eyebrows, giving them a funny look. "Don't have too much fun" he giggled and his sister joined him.

Lance rolled his eyes. He already knew what his friends were thinking about. Allura and him had known Rolo and his girlfriend Nyma for a while and they all partied together multiple times. One of those times they _might_ have gotten a little high and some questionable choices were made… like Lance getting a dick piercing and a hand poke tattoo on one of his butt cheeks saying 'bite here' in a cute font.

"For my own good and my bank account's sake, we won't" chuckled Lance.

"Yeah, I don't want you whining for another two weeks, thank you" sighed Allura, remembering how much Lance complained during the healing process.

Lance noticed how lost Keith, Shiro and Adam looked with their conversation and shook his head at them. "You don't want to know, believe me" he offered a soft smile and his heart almost skipped a beat when Keith smiled back.

"We aren't that old, Lance" said Shiro with a fond smile. "We've also done stupid things while partying"

Adam nodded in agreement. "One time, Takashi was so drunk he started dancing on top of a table" the anecdote made Shiro's face flush.

"That's sweet" said Allura while wrapping an arm around Lance's waist. "But that's the kind of stuff this guy over here does while being sober" she giggled. 

Lance couldn't argue with that, so he just shrugged. "I'm a little reckless when I drink, that's all" His phone buzzed in his pocket and after fishing it out Lance saw a text from Rolo asking if they were already on their way. "Duty is calling"

"Have fun and be safe" said Shiro sweetly.

"Will do!" Allura nodded and intertwined her arm with Lance's. "Enjoy your night" she said and waved at them before they walked away.

\-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

_(Keith’s POV)_

Keith had always struggled to fall asleep in rooms that weren’t his own. Something about being in his own space helped him feel safe and relax enough to fall asleep. That uneasy feeling that kept him awake was barely there whenever he had someone there with him, but after how excited he acted in front of everyone after getting a hotel room for himself, he didn’t want to make a fool of himself by asking one of his friends for company. He wasn’t a little kid anymore. He could deal with this.

He spent a couple hours just checking his phone while lying in bed, answering some DMs asking about when was he taking appointments again at the studio. He also stumbled upon Allura’s profile and followed her back from his personal account, hoping she wouldn’t find it weird.

Keith found himself smiling at how cute and tidy her feed looked. She had a lot of pictures that looked professionally taken as well as multiple selfies with what Keith assumed were friends and family. He was drawn to the ones featuring Lance.

Pictures at the beach, at restaurants, doing silly poses in the middle of the street and even vacation pictures. Lance was a constant presence in Allura’s Instagram, reflecting how close the two of them were. Without thinking too much about it, Keith kept scrolling down. Eventually he reached pictures from last summer, when Allura and Lance were actually dating. It would had been hard to tell, just by the number of pictures Allura kept posting with him, that they broke up. The only difference was that they stopped kissing while taking selfies.

Keith felt his chest warming up with affection just by seeing how wholesome was the friendship those two had.

After stalking the shit out of Allura’s old pictures, he scrolled back up to the more recent ones. He stopped at a really cool picture of Allura wearing roller-skates and pretending to step on the camera, the photo taken almost from ground level.

‘ _This has to be my favorite photoshoot so far! Swipe right to see the rest_ _❤️_ ’ read the caption. And so Keith did.

There were more pictures of Allura skating around, the jacket that hung off her shoulders giving off the sensation of movement and speed. Other pictures focused exclusively on her makeup, bright colors and glitter decorating her face as she smiled at the camera.

The last picture was definitely Keith’s favorite: the behind the scenes of that first picture taken from a low angle. Lance was star-fishing on the ground while holding a professional camera right next to his face. Thinking about the situation made Keith chuckle as he scrolled down a little to read the comments left on the post.

 **_@sharpshooter:_ ** _you can step on my face again anytime you want_ _✨_

That single comment just screamed ‘Lance’ to him, so Keith being the weak man he was, pressed the username to visit his profile.

And wow.

If he thought the pictures in Allura’s profile were beautiful and professional, Lance’s were out of this world. Pictures of beautiful landscapes, animals, people from all ages and places as well as some intricated self-portraits filled Lance’s feed. He was really good at it and the way he took care of the smallest details showed this was one of his passions.

_So bad I found out about his hobby by stalking his best friend._

Keith made the mental note to ask Lance about what he liked to do in his free time as soon as he had the chance. He scrolled some more, finding some pictures of Lance with the Holt’s and smiling sweetly at how happy they all looked.

Picture after picture, comment after comment, Keith started feeling tired and finally he was able to get some sleep. Without any responsibilities waiting for him the next day, he could peacefully sleep in. But it didn’t happen. He woke up around 7:30, after approximately five hours of sleep, and he wasn’t able to drift off again; so he decided to get up and take a quick shower before starting the day.

He got dressed with short jeans that ended right above his knee and a black band tee with matching black trainers. He gathered his hair in a ponytail so the humidity in the air wouldn’t mess too much with it. After the help of some bobby pins to keep the shorter strands of hair in place, he was ready to leave his room. Without anywhere else to go, Keith decided to visit the hotel’s restaurant to have breakfast and wait for his friends to wake up. He was waiting in line at the buffet area when someone touched his shoulder.

“Good morning” said Allura before yawning.

“Morning” he poured himself a cup of black coffee and handed Allura a cup, assuming she would need one too with how tired she looked. It wasn’t terrible but compared to all the energy she had the previous day the change was quite notorious.

“Thank you so much” she sighed and took a sip of her cup right after filling it.

“How was the party?” asked Keith as the followed the line towards the baked goods and toasted slices of bread.

“Oh it was great” the girl smiled softly and grabbed a tray to start filling it with the pastries in front of them. It looked like too much food for only one person, but Keith didn’t comment on it. “We had a lot of fun but we—” she yawned “Sorry. We’re exhausted”.

“I can tell” Keith giggled softly. “But hey, it’s a reasonable price to pay if you had a good time” he grabbed one of the puff pastries in front of him and placed it on his own tray. “How is Lance holding up?”

“He passed out in the taxi and I had to drag him to bed. So I bet he is holding up better than I am” she rolled her eyes though a fond smile grew on her face.

“He’s lucky to have you” Allura looked surprised by the statement, so Keith decided to elaborate. “I mean… It’s obvious how much you care for each other. It’s kind of cute” he scratched the back of his neck, feeling a little awkward saying that stuff to someone he just met.

“I guess you’re right” she smiled sweetly. “He’s great, you’d have time to see it by yourself” Allura winked at him before walking away from the line once she had everything she needed. Not knowing what to do, Keith followed her and together they sat at a table near the center of the room.Keith saw Allura check her phone and smile at the screen. “Is this you?” she asked, making the device face Keith to show him the notification saying **_@kxgane_** started following her on Instagram.

“Yeah. It’s my personal account, I hope you don’t mi—”

He was interrupted by a groan behind him. He turned around in time to see Lance dragging his feet over the tiled floor until he flopped down on the chair next to Keith and Allura.

“Good morning to you too, sleeping beauty” teased Allura before taking a sip of her coffee. Lance let his head fall onto the table in front of him in response. “Still thinking that playing drinking games with Rolo was a good idea?”

Lance lifted his head only to roll his eyes at her. “It _was_ a good idea. Having work today is what’s killing me” he complained and leaned back properly onto his chair.

Lance was wearing the same clothes than Allura, a blue polo tucked in some khaki bermuda pants, so he assumed it was the hotel’s uniform for their workers. His undereyes looked heavy and his curls were plastered to his scalp, not even half as fluffy as they were the previous day. He didn’t look bad, just tired. Or that was Keith’s biased brain thought.

“Try listening to me next time” sighed Allura while pushing her tray closer to Lance. His blue eyes light up at the sight of the baked goods presented to him.

“God, I love you” he groaned and immediately stuffed his mouth with a croissant.

“Just Allura is fine” she winked at him and stood up while he flipped her off. “Coffee?”

Lance nodded eagerly, cheeks full, and the girl went back to the buffet line to get her friend a cup; leaving the boys alone. After swallowing, Lance looked at the boy sitting next to him.

“I look more put together on a daily basis. I swear”

Keith smiled and nodded. “I’ll have to believe you. If I were you I’d probably still be in bed”

“Ugh I wish. But I need to look after kids” Lance pouted and Keith felt the urge to kiss that expression out of his beautiful face.

“I didn’t take you for a married guy”

Lance frowned. Keith thought his joke attempt had been way too bad and was about to clarify he was kidding when Lance laughed out loud. “Sorry, I’m still waking up” he giggled. “But no, no marriage, no kids of my own. Today I have a pottery workshop with some of the kids that stay here while their parents are out doing stuff”

“So you’re a babysitter?”

“Babysitter, total clown, little girls’ crush… you can call it however you want”

Keith nodded slowly, bringing his cup up to his lips to take another sip. This was his chance.

_You can do it. Ask him._

“Uh… is pottery one of your hobbies?”

“Oh hell no” Lance laughed, running a hand through his hair. “The key is being one lesson ahead of the kids. I can make really cool ashtrays, though. It’s one of my many talents”

_Almost there. Second try._

“What are the others?”

Lance gave him a funny look, just like the ones he had been getting from Allura. He didn’t like it. It fell as if they knew something Keith ignored. “I like roller-skating” said Lance after a moment. Okay, not what Keith was waiting for but at least it was useful information for future reference. “I usually do it with Allura so we can take cool pictures and videos of each other”

_Yes!_

“Sounds really cool. Are you into photography?”

Lance’s eyes got as bright as when he was presented food to take care of his hungover. “I am _really_ into it” he chuckled. “I spend pretty much all of my free time stuck to a camera or editing photos. I can show you some of my pictures some time if you’re interested”

“Sure!” _Okay, tone it down._ “Whenever you are free without pottery duties to attend” he chuckled awkwardly. Keith relaxed a little when Lance smiled at him.

“I’d love to. Plus, you still gotta tell me about your job at the tattoo parlor. It’s mad interesting” Lance glanced at the time on his phone and sighed. “Yay! Nothing better than screaming kids to help my body metabolize alcohol faster” he whined and got up after dragging his chair backwards. “When Allura comes back, tell her I’m took her coffee since apparently she was too busy going to Colombia to brew mine, jeez”

Keith laughed softly as he watched the tan boy walk away, sipping from what once was Allura’s cup as he left the towards the hall. He was too busy looking at him walk away and sighing like an idiot to notice: 1) Lance already knew stuff about him, 2)Allura had moved to a different table by herself instead of going to grab Lance’s coffee and she had been staring at them the whole time and 3) Lance’s ass looked incredibly tight in those pants.

Who are we trying to fool? Of course Keith noticed that third thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Sorry in advance fot the typos this chapter can contain.  
> Two updates in two consecutive days totally make up for almost three months without posting, right? *crickets*  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
> The comments I got in the last chapter made me really happy and encouraged me to write some more but now that college is starting kick my butt again I can't promise an update anytime soon.
> 
> Remember to suscribe to this work here on AO3 or follow me on twitter at kkay_nsfw so you can know when I update again!  
> Like always, thank you guys for your support and remember to leave a comment if you can to let me know your thoughts about my work.
> 
> xoxo - kay


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